Amiga Collections: MegaDisc/MegaDisc 08 (1988)(MegaDisc Digital Publishing)(AU)[WB].zip/MegaDisc 08 (1988)(MegaDisc Digital Publishing)(AU)[WB].adf/TUTORIALS/Print.Manual_2

Text File | 1988-05-28 | 16KB | 321 lines

[Continued from PRINT.MANUAL_1]


KNOWLEDGE IS ONLY AS GOOD AS ITS USES

Ok, so how do we use these controls to make the pictures come out the
size that we want?

If you have managed to follow me so far then the rest should be fairly
easy.  Let's select Density 1, which gives me a printout density of 90
dpi x 180 dpi.  I decide that I want to print a picture 2" wide by 3"
high on the right side of the page.  I will go to the Limits box and
click on Pixels, then type 180 (90 dpi x 2" wide = 180) in the Width
limit and 540 (180 dpi x 3" high = 540) in the Height limit.  I then
go to the Left Offset box at the top of screen in the center.  This
box allows me to select the place that I want the left edge of the
picture to be.  I said that I wanted a 2" wide picture on the right
side of the page.  So I type 6 into the box.  That means that the
picture will start printing 6" in from the left side.  It will print a
Picture 2" wide which means that right side of the picture will be on
the 8" mark.  By going through the GraphicDump procedure I will soon
know if I did everything properly.

This leaves us with the fun thing.  Printing Vertically (sideways).

It is no more difficult to print sideways (vertically) than it is to
print normally (horizontally).  It just takes a little rethink.

First, remember that the printer density doesn't change when you
change the printing Aspect.  90 x 180 dpi or 90 Horizontal x 180
Vertical means that the printer will print 90 dpi across the width of
the page and 180 dpi down the length of the page.  The orientation of
the picture has no affect on those settings.

So if I want to print the same size picture that I did above but I
want it sideways, I will have to change a couple of things.

First because the 3" length of the picture will be across the width of
the page we have to change the Left Offset to 5.  So the bottom of the
print will be at the 5" mark and the top will be at the 8" mark
(across the 8.25 measurement of the paper). The Width Limit always
refers to the width of the picture when looking at it rightside up.
It doesn't matter whether the printer is printing normally
(horizontally) or sideways (vertically).  So while the width is
oriented across the 8.25" measurement of the paper in the Normal
(horizontal) print, the Width is oriented along the 11.66" measurement
of the paper in the Sideways (vertical) print.  This means that to get
a 2" wide picture sideways (vertically), I have to take into account
that the printer is printing 180 dpi down the page (that corresponds
to the width of the picture in a sideways (vertical) print).  180 dpi
x 2" = 360.  So type 360 into the Width Limit box.  Also, because the
printer is putting 90 dpi across the page (which corresponds to the
height of the picture in a sideways (vertical) print) we have to
multiply by 3 to get the Height Limit.  90 dpi x 3" = 270.  Type 270
in the Height Limit.  Now click on OK and then click on Graphics 1.
Click on the Vertical box on the left side of the screen.  That will
give you a sideways (vertical) print of your picture.  Click on OK,
click on OK and then Click on Use. Now click on Graphicdump again and
you will have a 2" x 3" picture, but you have to take the paper out of
the printer and turn it counterclock-wise to orient it properly.  See,
nothing to it.

BUT I DON'T HAVE WORKBENCH 1.3

Ok, so you say that all of this information about adjusting picture
size by pixels isn't much good if you don't have Workbench 1.3.  But
DELUXEPRINT has a print control panel called Custom.  It allows you to
set Width and Height by Pixels.  The above information applies to this
program as well as WB 1.3.  However, to put the left edge of the print
where you want it to be, you will have to go into Preferences and
select the necessary Left Margin instead of using the Left Offset of
WB 1.3.

Sizing by Margins and Lpi

DELUXEPAINT II uses Left and Right margins and Page length combined
with Lines per inch to determine the size of the print.  However, it
only requires a little more work to get acceptably precise printouts.

Horizontal Printing

The amount of the 8.25" width of the paper that you actually use is
controlled by the Left and Right margins.  As well as controlling the
width of the picture, you can determine how far in from the left side
of the paper that the print will start.  So by considerate use of the
margin settings you can produce pictures smaller than Postage stamps
anywhere on the page.  Even better, you can produce your own Floppy
disk labels on the readily available 68mm x 68mm self adhesive labels.
To kill two birds with one stone, I will use the Disk labels as an
example of how to set the Margins and the Page length.

In Preferences you have a choice of three Pitch sizes (characters perinch).  10-12-15. ((If you are using the Prtdrvgen for an Nec CP6 or
7, or an Epson LQ printer, then the 15 is actually 20 cpi.  (By the
way, you can change the settings in Prtdrvgen if you like)).  The
larger number pitches give you more characters per inch therefore each
individual character takes up less space.  That means that you have
greater accuracy when using 15 cpi than when using 10 cpi.  One
character at 15 cpi =  1/15th of an inch.  However, one character at
10 cpi = 1/10th of an inch.  That subtle difference can be very useful
in some cases.  Therefore, I keep my Pitch set at 15 cpi. (Prtdrvgen
users for the Nec and Epson LQ printers should substitute 20 for 15,
which means that one character at 20 cpi = 1/20th of an inch.  Very
handy.)

Now, if you don't already have a picture on the Deluxepaint screen,
then load the one that you want on your label.  Then go into the fonts
menu and select Diamond 12. (It shows up fairly well) Go to the Styles
menu and select Bold.  I suggest using all Capital letters, so  hit
the Caps Lock.  Then just type in the Disk name at the very top of the
screen.  To do this you will have to hit the Function Key F10.  This
will remove the Menus from the screen.  Once you have typed the name
in you hit F10 again and the menus will reappear.  If the picture
colors tend to hide the name then paint a white rectangle the same
height of the letters and retype the name.

LABEL WIDTHS

The sheets of labels that I bought at a local Stationary and Book
Store are 8 7/8" wide.  (Nothing ever fits does it.)  So I line up the
perforation  on the left side of the left hand label with a mark
exactly 4" to the left of the printers center mark.  That means that
the printer can start printing exactly on the left edge of the Label.
But to preclude one of the printers pins getting stuck or bent in the
perforation you will have to set the left hand margin on 2.  At 15 cpi
that means that the label will have a 1/15" left margin.  (The first
character will not be printed)  The label is 2 21/32" square.  So at
15 cpi 2" will take 30 characters.  21/32" is very close to 20/30"
which is equal to 10/15" (20 divided by 2 = 10, 30 divided by 2 = 15.
Hence 10/15), so we add another 10 characters to the 30 that we
already have for the 2" and we get 40 for the total number of
characters that can be printed on the label.  But we set a margin of 1
on the left side, so to balance it out we will leave the same margin
on the right side.  That means that we use 39 for the right margin.

Height

The length or height is fairly critical if you want to have the name
of the disk showing on the 1/8" wide top. (That will allow you to pick
out the disk that you want while looking at your disk box from above.)
The maximum length should be 2 1/4". (That is the distance from the
bottom of the slightly indented area of the disk that you stick the
labels on, plus an extra 1/8" for the thickness of the disk at the
top.)  At 8 lpi 2 1/4" is 18 lines.  But, Deluxepaint will not give
you 2 1/4" if you select 18.  I don't know why, can anybody out there
tell me?  To get exactly 2 1/4" you will have to divide 18 by 0.82.
That will give you 21.95, which you can round out to 22.  The figure
of .82 is used for all Horizontally printed pictures.  The Vertical
pictures use a different percentage, I'll get to that a bit later.

THE PROOF OF THE PUDDING

To print a label in color we set everything in the DeluxePaint Print
window as follows.

Orientation:       Normal
Shade:             Color
Left margin:       2
Right margin:      39
Page length:       22
% Wide:            100%
% High:            100%
Number of Copies:  1

Before you put the sheet of labels into the printer, you will have to
put a light pencil mark 2 1/4" up from the bottom of the label that
you want to print on.  You then align that line with whatever mark is
on your printers printhead or the card holder (usually a clear plastic
rectangle with an opening through which the printhead actually prints.
It is put there to keep the paper from moving away from the rubber
platen) to indicate where the top of the 1st line of print will be.
You are now ready to do your first label.  If you don't want to take a
chance on wasting a label, then do a test printing on a plain sheet of
paper first and compare the finished print with a disk and also with
your sheet of labels.  (I strongly recommend doing this.  Little
mistakes are easy to make.)  Once you are satisfied that the settings
are right then print your label.

Second Column of labels

My sheet of labels measures 2 13/16" to the beginning of the second
column.  2 x 15 = 30 plus 12 for the 13/16" = 42.  Add 1 for the
safety margin and you end up with 43 for the left margin.

We need a picture width of 37. (using the margins for the first column
of labels -- 2 and 39--  39 less 2  = a picture width of 37
characters.)  So 43 left margin plus 37 gives you a right margin of
80.  If you have changed the margins but the print comes out on the
same place that it did previously, then turn the printer off and back
on again to reset it.  As an aside, I have found that printers some
times cause errors in programs and even crashes.  So if something is
bothering you and you can't find a reason, try turning the printer off
and on once.  It can't hurt and it may solve the problem.  Back to
business.  The following chart is what I have used for the sheets of
labels that I have.  You may have to change the margins a little bit
to fit yours but by doing a couple of practice runs on plain paper you
should get it right without wasting any actual labels.

LABELS

 1st Col   Left-  2    Right-  39
 2nd Col   Left- 43    Right-  80
 3rd Col   Turn Sheet upside down and use the Margins for the 1st row.

For page length use 22 @ 8 lpi.

You have to turn the sheet upside down because the width of the 3
labels plus the space between them adds up to 8 1/4".  Remember thatthe 10" printer will only print 8" wide, so the third column of labels
would have a 1/4" of print missing on the right hand side.

One of the very important uses of these size controls is that you can
put 15 good quality pictures on one A-4 sheet of paper.  That gives
you a preview sheet to keep in a binder for a quick reference of what
is on your Graphics disks.  The following margins will enable you to
do that.

Preview Sheet

1st Col  Left-   1     Right-  38
2nd Col  Left-  42     Right-  79
3rd Col  Left-  83     Right- 120

For page length use 17 @ 8 lpi.

To put 5 rows of pictures on a 10" page with 1/4" between rows You
will have 9" for the actual pictures.  9 divided by 5 = 1.8".  1.8"
times 8 lpi = 14.4 lines.  But, remember that you have to divide that
with the .82 offset to get the true size.  14.4 divided by .82 =
17.56.  To give a little extra space between the rows to write the
picture names on, I round the 17.56 off to 17.

Full Page Vertical Prints

There are a couple of good reasons to printing Vertically. (Sideways)
First, you can get a larger picture.  Second, the horizontal lines
inherent in a Dot Matrix print become vertical when the picture is
turned sideways.  For some reason most people find the vertical lines
less intrusive than the horizontal ones.

For small pictures such as those on the labels and the preview sheets
the ratio between the height and width isn't really important.  But,
if you want to print round circles and square squares you must keep
the same ratio as that on the Monitor screen.  That ratio is 62.5%.
(divide 200 by 320).  Maintaining that ratio will ensure that the
screen image is faithfully reproduced on paper.

Lets put a print on A-4 paper.  If we decide on a 10" picture width
(down the length of the paper) then the proper height (across the
width of the paper) will be 6.25". (10 x 62.5% = 6.25")

A-4 paper is 11 11/16" long.  So we subtract 10" from 11 11/16" and
get 1 11/16" left over to divide between the top and bottom margins
for the length of the paper.  We put a mark 27/32" down from the top
of the sheet so that the picture will be centered on the length of the
paper.

We subtract the picture width of 6 1/4" from the 8" total printing
width capability of the printer and get 1 3/4" left over to divide
between the left and right margins for the width of the paper.  To
center the picture over the width of the paper we will have to set a
margin of 7/8" on each side.  We won't be able to get it exact, but it
will be very close if we choose 13 @ 15 cpi (15 cpi x 7/8" margin =
13.125) for the left margin and 107 (6 1/4" picture width x 15 cpi =
93.75 + 13 left margin = 106.75)  for the right margin.

I mentioned earlier that Vertical (sideways) printing required a
different correction factor than Horizontal (normal) printing.  The
number that works for me is 117.  We want a picture 10" long @ 8 lpi.
That means a length of 80 lines.  But, to get the right number of
lines we have to divide 80 by 117.  We get an answer of 68.37 lines.
Lets round it off to 68.  So we have the following settings.

Orientation:       Sideways
Shade:             Color
Left margin:       13
Right margin:      107
Page length:       68
% Wide:            100%
% High:            100%
Number of Copies:  1

That should produce a very nice picture for your wall.  As they say on
T.V.  "Works for me".

Sideways pictures on Workbench 1.2 are quite simple to use because you
aren't allowed to change the Height to Width ratio.

It remains constant at 80%. (the height will be 80% of the width.)
All that you have to do is set the margins (1 and 120 at 15 c.p.i.) to give
you a 8" high picture (across the width of the paper) and leave the
page length set on 70.  The width (down the length of the paper) will
automatically be 10".

A couple of final hints and then I'll be on my way.

The closer the Printhead is to the platen the less pronounced the
horizontal lines will be.  Therefore, thinner paper seems to give
better results.  My best prints have been done on Onionskin paper.

The lower densities such as 90 x 180 dpi seem to minimize the
horizontal lines.  Especially when combined with thinner paper.

I keep the color ribbons that are too worn for graphics prints and use
them for letters to my family and friends.  Not only can you get
hundreds of Text pages out of a worn ribbon, but, it is a nice change
to see text in the various colors available.

Hopefully this information will be of some use to you.  I know that it
would have saved me a lot of time and paper if it had been available
twelve months ago.

If you can't understand some part of it, or have a problem that I
haven't covered, then I can be reached at 076-973574.  Ask for Jim.

HAPPY PRINTING

*Copyright 1988 Jim Bolf*

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